Did you have a fun Fourth of July weekend?
I’m so sad that it’s over, but considering I had a 4 day weekend, I really can’t complain! I was able to do some running, some celebrating, and get things taken care of for the house, so I’m glad to say it was a mix of productivity and fun!
I’m linking up with the Weekly Wrap with HoHo and MissSippi Piddlin and Tuesdays on the Run with Marcia, Patty, and Erika!
It's time for the #weeklywrap - 4th of July Edition! #runchat Click To TweetYou wouldn’t believe how happy I was to get a long weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July, always one of my favorite holidays! While we don’t have a big grill (yet), we were able to pick up some delicious food from a nearby market and truly have a feast as we made the sausages and burgers on our stove for the first time.
We even got to see fireworks, twice! The Kansas City Royals were in town to play the Phillies and we were able to see a great show, despite the Royals losing one of 3 games. I wish the few shots I took could do them justice!
We’ve been excited about seeing the Royals in-person all season. Bret was able to get some amazing seats on StubHub that were in perfect view of the home plate. The people who sold the tickets to us were there and were super friendly. Unfortunately, the Phillies beat the Royals the first game, but I was glad the tables were turned at Saturday’s game!
On Saturday I went to my first tailgate before a baseball game. Bret has several friends who are Royals fans in Philly, so one of them set everything up. We had a really good time! I just need the Royals to get their act together this season…I think they have way too much competition this year to run away with the title, so hopefully they get things in order soon. Right now they’re not as exciting to watch!
I was really excited about having a long weekend so that I can spend more time getting the house organized. Now, we’ve been living in our new house barely over a week, so I think with that in mind, we’ve made a ton of progress already!
Over the weekend, we were able to pick up a ton of stuff from Home Depot, Walmart, and check out Bed Bath and Beyond. And we bought a new mattress from Raymour and Flanagan! I hate the word “adulting” but I guess that’s what we’ve been up to!
We’re also meeting more of the neighbors as the days go by. Everyone seems pretty nice and we continue to be wowed by our neighborhood overall. So many beautiful homes and the peace and quiet is such a welcome change for us!
My next big project is getting my home office organized. This is where I’ll be doing my blogging (like I am for this post!) and I even have my clarinet and keyboard up here. It will truly be a creative space! Right now it looks like a tornado hit it…take my word for it! Any tips on the best place to buy things for your home office?
After being consistently inspired by fellow bloggers Marcia, Kim, and Wendy who have been doing a daily planking challenge, I’ve finally decided to follow their lead and challenge myself to do a 1-minute plank each day in July. The problem is, it’s July 5 and I forgot to plank on the 3rd and the 4th – D’oh! So I have some catching up to do…
I used to find planks to be so easy but over the past year I’ve realized how I’ve really let myself go when it comes to my core strength. As a runner, it’s so important to have a strong core, and since I won’t have boot camp or yoga classes at work to rely on, I want to keep up with my workouts. Now if I can only get that consistency down! Any tips on making sure you do those planks every day?
Monday 6/27: Yoga class in the afternoon and Boot Camp in the evening. I found out that my Boot Camp instructor is moving away, so I’m really sad! He’s been awesome this past year and always gave us a great workout.
Tuesday 6/28: I planned to run but ran out of time. We had our playoff softball game in the evening, and we made it to the semifinals! I got an RBI (yay), but I had the busiest right field of my life. The other team had tons of lefties so the ball consistently came my way, and I tended to catch it with my body…the last straw was when a fly ball landed DIRECTLY ON MY FOOT. You’ve got to be kidding me! After that I didn’t play much in the game. I was extremely worried because it felt just like my foot did when I had a stress fracture in 2013. I’ve got the worst luck sometimes…
Wednesday 6/29: I actually went to the doctor (so happy I got an appointment the same day!) to get my foot checked out and get an X-Ray. Thankfully, my doctor was confident that I didn’t have a fracture and the X-Ray was clear. I was still experiencing a LOT of pain even after the prescribed painkillers. Needless to say, no running!
Thursday 6/30: Another day of rest for my foot, though it was starting to feel slightly better.
Friday 7/1: I had the day off and I thought my foot was finally ready to get back to running! I had no idea where I was going, but I meandered my way to a trail that I ran with Bret a few weeks ago. It was so beautiful! Even better, I felt great on this run! I followed up my run with ITB Band Rehab and Standard Core workouts from Strength Running.
Saturday 7/2: Bret and I ran together as he showed me a route that he tried out that was awesome! We live pretty close to Forbidden Drive and he was able to find a way to get there by running instead of driving. We ended up doing a little under 5.2 miles. Oh, and my new hood is super hilly!
Sunday 7/3: No workouts!
Monday 7/4: We went for a long run on the Fourth! I should have done 7.4 miles but we actual did 7.5! The first few miles were extrenely tough since we were winding through the rocky trails near the Wissahickon. Eventually we got on Forbidden Drive and even ran through Chestnut Hill, a gorgeous neighborhood. Bret really kept me motivated on this one, as I was discouraged by my slow pace in the beginning.
Unfortunately, I ended up with a low mileage week due to that freak softball accident. I keep telling everyone that there is nothing “soft” about that softball! I think I’m getting more adapted to running in the heat and humidity, though it is still a very miserable experience!
With all things considered, I’m going to give this past week of training a B. I’m eager to get back to running and I really need to make sure I get in my long runs every week since I’m getting closer and closer to marathon training(!). I’m feeling a little out of wack, but hopefully I’ll be back in the groove for Week 5!
How was your Fourth of July? Did you run any races?